Shepherding: Hospitality

A few weeks back I was informed that a brother was to come and stay with us for his medical check-up in New Delhi and it was just for a few days. Since the matter was urgent, I agreed but was only concerned how well we could take care of them. In other words, we need to learn how to give hospitaltiy to our guests; this is the area I have been wanting to improve. A few days before the guest was to come as we were told, the guest came earlier. Nonetheless, we took care of his hospitality. My brothers who are with me have helped me a lot in giving hospitaltiy to our guest.

A few days later, our guest's sister also came and stayed with us. I wanted them to feel as comfortable and homely as possible.  In fact, they both adapt to our family situation so well, and they became a part of our family. They were so free to come and go, cook and eat whatever they want. I felt happy that they were comfortable and felt at home. 

The best part of the hospitality was that every evening after dinner we would sit together for family prayers and after then a time of fellowship. Every night while they were with us, the Lord gave me a specific burden to minister to them. Some nights I testified my personal testimony, other nights I shared the truth concerning the church and some important items in the Bible. Every night as we fellowshipped, the Lord spoke His timely words which were needed for our guests. They have been very touched and impressed by the truths the Lord has revealed to us, and the life testimony the Lord has been gracing us. What a grace!

One specific burden I shared with my guest was that he should spent time everyday with the Lord in the word, at least 10% of the day, 10% of 24 hours to be spent with the Lord for prayer, Bible reading, and fellowshipping with the saints. He agreed to inculcate this newfound lifestyle. As to the complaint he had about his "church", and his disagreement with some elders in his group, my simple fellowship was to learn to submit to authority and to learn to be dealt with in his person. Our person is the Lord's work. 

In fact, I had the confidence to tell him that his coming to stay with us was the Lord's sovereign arrangement to get to know more bout the truth of the Bible concerning Christ and the church and a pracitical living testimony of believers. Though he came for his health checkup, that was merely the outter covering the Lord used; the actual reason was for spiritual fellowship. I also told him that if he began a new living, the Lord woul work on him and grant him a new beginning. In fact, he can become a living testimony to others, especially for the Lord's move among our tribesmen who are yet to believe into the Lord Jesus Chruist.

Fianlly, after about two weeks of stay with us, I went to drop them at New Delhi Airport. I believe the Lord has began His work on them for His move in his village and among his community. 

Lord, gain my brother and sister for your testimony!

Time with a Brother

Last Wednesday a brother and I had a time of fellowship over lunch with a senior brother and his wife at McDonald's, in Vasant Vihar, New Delhi. This brother is a living example of a serving one who remains faithful from the very beginning of his serving in the literature to date. In fact, he is the one through whom the ministry has come to India many years ago. It is grace to be able to serve together with my brother, though he is my father's age and much more experienced and senior and elder than me.

The first time I met him was when I was a student in MCC, Chennai. I came in touch with the saints in the church life and his son-in-law picked me up by an autorickshaw and took me to the Gospel Book Room where this brother was a manager then. The first time I visited the book room, I was introduced to him and the ministry literature. My innate response in visiting the book room was that I purchased all the English titles available in Indian print. A box of books I purchased and paid the price for it too. Those books later became eye-opening books for me to see the vision of God's economy gradually. Never did I ever imagine that one day, I would be co-laboring with our dear brother in the same literature service. In fact, after four years the Lord brought me into the literature service, and another four years after, I was further brought into the coordination of the entire literature service all over India with him and a couple of other brothers.

Deep within my being I always respect and honor him as my elder brother in the Lord and in the service. For every official matter, I always took his words seriously. In fact, when I first came into the literature service,  he encouraged me to travel and distribute the ministry books from state to state, city to city, town to town, and village to village. I took his words as the Lord's speaking and commit them to the Lord in prayer that it become true in my service. Then, I began to travel all over the country as he said, state to state, city to city, town to town, and village to village, introducing and distributing the ministry literature and also ministering the word of God. By the Lord's grace and mercy and blessing, all the states in India have been visited for the ministry literature distribution. What grace and what blessing to be in such a service ordained and blessed by the Lord serving together with a brother like him and others.

His life itself is a testimony. His children are all in the service of the Lord. In fact, all his children with their spouses are serving the Lord actively. I consider this itself a great blessing from the Lord. The Lord blessed His serving ones, including all their families and the generation following them. To such a one, as a serving in the coordination of the service, I genuinely felt good and expressed it to him and his family members as well that as much as the Lord graces the literature service, we would take care of his financial need and that he need not worry about his service per se. To me, this is the practical way to honor such a faithful brother. 

May the Lord bless him with long life, good health, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, and be a pattern to the young generation.

Mephibosheth: God's Kindness

David wanted to show kindness to Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth, by inviting him to dine with him at his table continually all the days of his life though he was crippled and his father and grandfather were dead. David's kindness can aslo be reckoned as God's knindess as the kindness David showed was also God's kindness as described in the Bible. This is a wonderful type of God showing His kindness towards man, "Mephibosheth," who was spiritually crippled in his "legs" for his daily Christian walk. In fact, David sought out Mephobiosheth and rescued him from Lo-debar, meaning a place of dryness where there is no green grass. Likewsie, man is also crippled in sins and lost in the world where there is no divine life supply.    

2S 9:1And David said, Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show kindness to him for Jonathan’s sake?
2S 9:3And the king said, Is there yet anyone at all of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him? And Ziba said to the king, There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.
2S 9:4Then the king said to him, Where is he? And Ziba said to the king, He is just now in the house of Machir the son of Amiel in Lo-debar.
2S 9:5And King David sent men and took him from the house of Machir the son of Amiel, from Lo-debar.
2S 9:6And Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he said, Your servant is here.
2S 9:7And David said to him, Do not be afraid, for I will surely show kindness to you for the sake of Jonathan your father; and I will restore to you all the land of your father Saul, and you will eat food at my table continually.
2S 9:10And you shall work the land for him, you and your sons and your servants; and you shall bring in the produce that your master’s son may have food to eat; and Mephibosheth, your master’s son, will eat food continually at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
2S 9:11Then Ziba said to the king, According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do. And Mephibosheth, said David, shall eat at my table like one of the king’s sons.
2S 9:13And Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem because he ate at the king’s table continually. And he was crippled in both his feet.

All of David's kindness showed toward Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake as the two brothers had made a covenant and loved one another with a brotherly love even to the point of death.

1S 18:1Now when he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan became knit with the soul of David; and Jonathan loved him like his own soul.
1S 18:3Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him like his own soul.
1S 20:16So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, And Jehovah will require it at the hand of David’s enemies.
1S 20:17And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

This brotherly love story is also a divine love story between God and man, showing us how God's kindness leads us to repentace and turn away from the world to Christ. Despite being crippled spiritually, we have been invited to feast at the King's table. While being seated at the table to feast on the unsearchaeble riches of Christ, our entire focus must be on the rich food placed at the table, and not on the crippled legs under the table. It will be sheer foolishness to be too conscious of the crippled legs and not enjoy the feast that was prepared for us by the King Jesus Christ. As we all feast on the riches at the table, the crippled legs may still remain crippled. That fact may not change at all, but the focus must change; it must beo on the rich food rather than the crippled legs. What a grace that the crippled legs are under the table, hidden and covered by the riches on the table! This should be our Christna exoperience day by day, looking away unto Jesus. 

He 12:2Looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God.
Co 3:12Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, inward parts of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering;
1Co 13:4Love suffers long. Love is kind; it is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not puffed up;
Tt 3:4But when the kindness and the love to man of our Savior God appeared.

This wonderful love story of God's kindness encouraged many saints as we studied this portion of the word. I myself enjoyed the message and shared it as a message to the brothers and sisters in Madhya Pradesh yesterday. What a privilege to know the truth and much more to experience and enjoy the truth!

Lord. thank You for Your kindness shown towards me, a crippled sinner.

Fellowship, Fellowship, and Fellowship

Serving the Lord with a vision of the Body is full of fellowship. Our service in the Body is not individualistic anymore. Therefore, it involves a lot of fellowship with fellow members in the Body, and nothing can be done without fellowship as everything must be done in fellowship only. This lesson has been a great blessing in my service. 

Often my service has been just occupied by fellowship after fellowship after fellowship. And while fellowshipping I enjoyed the Lord's speaking in the Body and through the Body. On the one hand, fellowship is very enjoyable and serves as a covering and coordination, Yet on the other hand, fellowship is "difficult" as it cuts through personal opinions, and feelings, and gives no room for the self.  This way of serving the Lord is amazing and wonderful. I am full of praise and thanks to the Lord for leading me to such a vision and service.

Two days ago, though I had my office schedule for work, I had to attend a fellowship with two brothers to fellowship on the matter of support for the servings one in the coming financial year. The fellowship started off with a negative note, but as we fellowshipped and listened to one another, the Lord cleared up many misunderstandings and brought us into oneness in deciding how much support certain serving ones should get.  In the process, we brothers also were able to understand each other better and be blended more.

Then I had to pick up a brother and fellowship concerning his personal matter over lunch. Initially, this brother was a total "stranger" to me as I never knew him personally nor what he has been going through. Yet, as he opened up about his situation, almost with tears concerning his "bad" relationship with some leading brothers in the local church he was, we could sense where he has gone wrong. At that point, we were almost inclined towards him and even sympathized with him. Yet in fellowship, as I also looked to the Lord inwardly on how to shepherd this brother, the Lord gave me the liberty to share from my own experiences how the Lord led me in my marriage life and how I had been dealt with in the matter of discerning the Lord's will and obeying it. In fellowship, the Lord showed all of us the danger of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the blessing of eating from the tree of life. 

Sometimes, some young brothers were "obsessed" with what they wanted in life concerning their marriage or job, or place of stay. Only supplying the divine life in fellowship can rescue such ones from the deadness to life. That's what we experienced as we fellowshipped with this brother. After the hours of fellowship, it became very clear that our young brother has been misled by himself in his obsession about a certain sister she likes and loves and desires to marry, but that happened to be his own personal feeling, one-sided from his own viewpoint. But in fellowship we did our best to shepherd our dear brother and encouraged him to fellowship with certain brothers to clear up all the offenses whatsoever, and also to immediately resume his personal enjoyment of Christ through his daily exercise of prayer, reading the word of God, and participating in the practical church life.

Then in the evening, I had a time of family fellowship with some relatives who came to stay with us for a couple of days for their health check-ups. To them, I shared the goodness of the Lord in how He led me from my young age to serve Him and how He blessed me with all heavenly and spiritual blessings in addition to the many physical blessings as well. They also testified that they have learned a lot from the life testimony and heard the living testimony of how the Lord must be experienced in a living way.

The Lord does speak clear messages through fellowship in the Body. All the saints I have had fellowship with definitely testified of how they were blessed by the fellowship. In fact, through such a small beginning- a simple fellowship, the Lord can gain all the saints for the fulfillment of His heart's desire.

Lord, preserve me in Your Body in fellowship all the days of my life.

Shepherding: Fiery Ordeal

 1P 4:12Beloved, do not think that the fiery ordeal among you, coming to you for a trial, is strange, as if it were a strange thing happening to you;

1P 4:13But inasmuch as you share in the sufferings of Christ, rejoice, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice exultingly.

1P 4:14If you are reproached in the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

1P 4:15For let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler into others’ affairs;

1P 4:16But if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this name.

Last Monday, I received an unexpected call from a sister who poured out all her sorrows and pains she has been going through, in a way of fellowship. She was so hurt by her own daughter who she felt had betrayed her. She has already been through an unimaginable turmoil in her life for the past few years and she has still been going through it with higher intensity. As a brother, I patiently listened to everything she had to say and let her pour out her heart. Meanwhile, as I listened I also prayed inwardly turning to Lord to comfort her and also to give me wisdom on how to render a special help in the situation she was in. The fellowship went on for about an hour. When she finally finished whatever she had to say, I fellowshipped with her what the Lord spoke to me the same day morning in the Life-study pursuit from 1 Peter.

I fellowshipped that if we suffer because of our sins or mistakes, we have to learn the spiritual lessons needed and not repeat the same sins or mistakes ever again, looking to the Lord. But if we indeed suffer because of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we should glorify God in it. For in such suffering, we are partaking of the sufferings of Christ. In this way of suffering, we will be dealt with in our natural man and be purified gradually through every suffering as gold is purified through fire.

The Greek, for fiery ordeal, purosei, means burning, signifying the burning of a smelting furnace for the purification of gold and silver (Prov. 27:21; Psa. 66:10), like the metaphor used in 1:7.

Pr 27:21The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, And a man is tried by the praise given him.

Ps 66:10For You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined.

Through the fellowship from my enjoyment of the word of God, she was so nourished and she realized that many of the sufferings she went through were also linked to her mistakes in the past. She also realized that the Lord wanted to gain her fully for Himself so that He is allowing all that she has been going through to strip her of all impurities as gold is refined by fire. The firey ordeal may be difficult to bear now but it is definitely worth the burning for the sake of gaining Christ and be gradually conform to His image. 

She also confessed her mistake in trusting and caring for people other than God Himself. Now that she has been "betrayed" by the very person she loved, she realized that she should trust only the Lord Jesus Christ and no one else. Besides, through all these pains she has been going through she has also changed a lot. Her attitude towards the saints and the church and the Lord Himself, and her attitude toward persons, matters, and things have taken a new turn altogether. Praise the Lord for such a positive result that transpired through her sufferings.

At one point, as she was narrating her ordeals she spitted out the forbidden word "suicide," which she happened to think about. To this, I gave a strong word not to use the word ever again. Such a word is straight from the devil. Satan's tactic is to bring people to despair and eat them up. God's way is to save them and give them new life altogether. 

When I finished fellowshipping what the Lord burdened me with, I prayed for her and she also prayed. But as she prayed, she could not continue further as she started to weep. Then, I encouraged her to take rest and ended the call.

Later in the evening, I was requested to visit a family where this very experience I just had with a sister became a testimony of sharing the need for fellowship and shepherding one another. It became the fresh bread that I enjoyed and shared with another family, while all names and identification of the persons were kept secret.

May the Lord continue to shepherd the saints including me, even if we may go through fiery trials, if He so allows, to be purified and be conformed to His image!

Shepherding: Coordination

Last Monday, I had an appointment with a family and I was prepared to meet them and release my burden concerning the vision of the oneness among God's children. But in the morning, a brother called me up and requested me to go to another family as he was not keeping well and could not visit the family. He felt that I should go as the family has been through some situation and we have coordinated together to shepherd them in the past weeks. Besides, the son and daughter-in-law of the family also came for the meeting last Lord's day very unexpectedly, perhaps, the Lord brought them as they have been shepherded and prayed for by the saints in the church here. Initially, I wanted some other satins to go as I would not like to miss the other family I made an appointment with. But I decided to check if I could cancel or postpone the meeting for some other day so that I could go to the family my brother requested me for.

I made the call and it was sovereign of the Lord that this new brother also was not keeping well and that his doctor had advised him to take rest for at least two days. So, it was apt for me to cancel it. In this way, I discerned that the Lord had led me to go to the family as I was requested to go. So I went.

In the home meeting, I was alone with the family as another family could not make it for some reason. And though the message pursuing was to be on the book The Tree of Life, the leading of the Lord was for a brotherly fellowship.  We began the meeting by singing a hymn of the Spirit mingled with our human spirit. Right after the hymn singing the atmosphere of the meeting took a new turn. The family members wanted to have fellowship on certain points and also wanted to clarify certain doubts about certain truths of the Bible. So the home meeting was a very lively home meeting.

Our fellowship began with how to discern being in the spirit from not being in the spirit. This point helps the entire family to exercise their spirit so as to live in the spirit. Otherwise, by default, we all live in our soul at best or in our flesh at worst. Then, the matter of knowing God's will came up. I was glad to fellowship from the truth points using many relevant Bible verses and also expounded from my experiences.  Later, a question on baptism came up, and I used relevant Bible verses to explain the significance of baptism. Then, we all prayed together.

I really enjoyed the home meeting, and the family too were very glad that that was the sovereignty of the Lord for me to visit them and fellowship on some points they have been wanting to clarify. This is the blessing of coordination. I was shepherded in shepherding in coordination. Had I not coordinated, I would have missed this wonderful shepherding to myself and to the saints. 

What a blessing to serve in coordination! The Lord's timely shepherding is in store for those who serve in coordination.

God's Wisdom: Christ

1K 3:9Give therefore to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?

God gave wisdom to Solomon as he prayed for it. Therefore, he became the wisest man who ever lived on the earth in the Old Testament. However, his wisdom was in the physical realm. It was mostly knowledge full and intellectualism. Perhaps, in today's terms, he was very very smart and had a very high IQ clubbed with much discernment between right and wrong, good or bad, of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Perhaps, if he were to be measured in today's educational scale, he must have had multiple Ph.D. degrees and even post-doctoral degrees in various fields of study. The following verses prove what physical wisdom he was endowed with.

1K 3:12I now do according to your words. I now give you a heart of wisdom and understanding, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor will one rise up after you like you.

1K 3:13And I also give you that for which you did not ask, both riches and glory, so that there will be no one among kings like you all your days.

1K 4:29And God gave Solomon wisdom and very much understanding and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore.

1K 4:30And Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the children of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.

1K 4:31For he became wiser than all men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame was among all the surrounding nations.

1K 4:32And he spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.

1K 4:33And he discoursed about trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that shoots forth out of the wall; he also discoursed about animals and about birds and about creeping things and about fish.

1K 4:34And they came from all the peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

In spite of Solomon's unfathomable wisdom, he had no control over his own flesh. The knowledge of good and evil, right or wrong may be clear to him but he did not have the strength to avoid the evil and embrace the good. Therefore, his wisdom could not save him from his own lust. He became a slave to his own flesh and ended marrying many gentile women, which I believe, according to the wisdom he had, would be discerned as evil and to be avoided. Therefore, the following verse proves his indulgence in lust and his failure in turning away from the very God who gave him wisdom.

1K 11:1But King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter — Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,

1K 11:2From among the nations concerning which Jehovah had said to the children of Israel, You shall not go among them, nor shall they come among you, for they will surely turn your heart after their gods. Solomon clung to these in love.

1K 11:3And he had seven hundred princess wives and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.

1K 11:4And when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect toward Jehovah his God like the heart of David his father.

1K 11:5And Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable thing of the Ammonites.

1K 11:6And Solomon did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah and did not fully follow Jehovah as David his father had done.

1K 11:7Then Solomon built a high place to Chemosh the detestable thing of Moab in the mountain that is before Jerusalem and to Molech the detestable thing of the children of Ammon.

1K 11:8And so he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

1K 11:9So Jehovah became angry with Solomon because his heart turned away from Jehovah the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.

In the New Testament, wisdom is of God and in fact, wisdom is God Himself. Or more subjective, wisdom is Christ, the embodiment of God, who is realized as the Spirit in our spirit.

Co 2:9For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,

1Co 1:24But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

1Co 1:30But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

Paul's wisdom in the New Testament is very subjective. He prayed for the spirit of wisdom and revelation for the believers to understand the great mystery of God. That wisdom is concerning Christ making His home in the heart of the believers. This is God's wisdom for us, the believers, today.

Ep 1:17That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him,

Ep 3:16That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man,

Ep 3:17That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love.

To gain wisdom is to gain Christ for Christ is wisdom. When Christ is gained by allowing Him to make His home in our hearts, we are gaining wisdom. Our hearts comprise all the parts of our soul, our mind, our emotion, and our will, and also a part of our spirit, our conscience. When Christ gains our entire psychological hearts, He is making His home in our hearts, He is ruling and reigning as King in our hearts. He is the pre-eminent One.  

He 4:12For the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Ac 11:23Who, when he arrived and saw the grace of God, rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain with the Lord with purpose of heart;

Jn 16:6But because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.

Jn 16:22Therefore you also now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and no one takes your joy away from you.

He 10:22Let us come forward to the Holy of Holies with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

The result of gaining God's wisdom is that Christ is making His home in our hearts and is constituting us with Himself, transforming every part of our soul to the extent that we become the same as He is, in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. Thereby, enabling us to live a life according to His wisdom, the living of Christ, which is the meaning and goal of our Christain lives.

Pp 1:21For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

This was the living message the Lord gave me last Wednesday in my ministering of the word of God to the brothers and sisters in Madhya Pradesh. Though this was not the burden until I spoke the message, but while I began to minister, the Lord anointed me to speak on this line of God's wisdom, comparing and contrasting the wisdom given to Solomon in the Old Testament with that of the wisdom who is Christ Himself in the New Testament.

Lord, give me wisdom. Make Your home in my heart to live You in daily my living.